Natural Health Blog

Rapeseed - This is where canola comes from . All Canola is by definition GMO. I'd skip it and go for olive oil or coconut oil. They modified it to get rid of the Gluconsinolates, which were found in rapeseed meal leftover from pressing. This was toxic and had prevented the use of this meal in animal feed. In Canada the crop was renamed "canola" (Canadian oil) to differentiate it from non-edible rapeseed.

Honey - Honey can be produced from GM crops. Some Canadian honey comes from bees collecting nectar from GM canola plants. This has shut down exports of Canadian honey to Europe. Honey should ALWAYS be local! It's better for your health- espeically if you have allergies! Try to source your honey from an area that is not covered with GMO farms. Hard to do- I KNOW- but try:)

Cotton - Resistant to certain pesticides - considered a food because the oil can be consumed. The introduction of genetically engineered cotton plants has had an unexpectedly effect on Chinese agriculture. The so-called Bt cotton plants that produce a chemical that kills the cotton bollworm have not only reduced the incidence of the pest in cotton fields, but also in neighboring fields of corn, soybeans, and other crops. Bt cotton has also been responsible for killing animals in india that have grazed off the cotton fields after harvest. Some farmers there have lost their entire lively-hoods and have subsequently killed themselves to escape the social shame attached to the loss of their farms and being indebted so terribly to the banks.

Rice - Genetically modified to contain high amounts of Vitamin A. Rice containing human genes is to be grown in the US. Rather than end up on dinner plates, the rice will make human proteins useful for treating infant diarrhoea in the developing world. I would recommend doing organic rice- they have some from farms that are specifically more environmentally friendly.

Sugar cane - Made resistant to certain pesticides. A large percentage of sweeteners used in processed food actually comes from corn, not sugar cane or beets. Genetically modified sugar cane is regarded so badly by consumers at the present time that it could not be marketed successfully. Important: Whenever you go out to buy organic sugar, make sure that the sugar is extracted from raw sugar cane or else you would get something which you don’t want to buy.

Tomatoes - Made for a longer shelf life and to prevent a substance that causes tomatoes to rot and degrade.

Sweet corn - genetically modified to produces its own insecticide. Officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have said that thousands of tonnes of genetically engineered sweetcorn have made their way into the human food supply chain, even though the produce has been approved only for use in animal feed. Recently Monsanto, a biotechnology food producer, said that about half of the USA's sweetcorn acreage has been planted with genetically modified seed this year.

This picture reminds me of the "Black Hole Sun" video from the mid-1990's- Any former grunge lovers in the house? haha

Flax - More and more food products contain flax oil and seed because of their excellent nutritional properties. No genetically modified flax is currently grown. An herbicide-resistant GM flax was introduced in 2001, but was soon taken off the market because European importers refused to buy it.

Papaya - The first virus resistant papayas were commercially grown in Hawaii in 1999. Transgenic papayas now cover about one thousand hectares, or three quarters of the total Hawaiian papaya crop. Monsanto, donated technology to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, for developing a papaya resistant to the ringspot virus in India. I would skip the papaya enzymes also unless you know it's made from a NON-GMO source.

Squash - (yellow crookneck) - Some zucchini and yellow crookneck squash are also GM but they are not popular with farmers.

Red-hearted chicory - (radicchio) - Chicory (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum) is popular in some regions as a salad green, especially in France and Belgium. Scientists developed a genetically modified line of chicory containing a gene that makes it male sterile, simply facilitating the production of hybrid cultivars. Today there is no genetically modified chicory on the market.- thank god.

Cottonseed oil - Cottonseed oil and linters. Products may include blended vegetable oils, fried foods, baked foods, snack foods, edible oil products, and smallgoods casings. It is some of the most toxic vegetable fats on the market! Being SO processed that it borders on carcinogenic to the human body once it's finally on the shelf! Avoid this like the plague!

Tobacco -The company Vector has a GMO tobacco being sold under the brand of Quest® cigarettes in the U.S. It is engineered to produce low or no nicotine.

Meat - Meat and dairy products usually come from animals that have eaten GM feed.

Peas - Genetically modified (GM) peas created immune responses in mice, suggesting that they may also create serious allergic reactions in people. The peas had been inserted with a gene from kidney beans, which creates a protein that acts as a pesticide.

Vegetable Oil - Most generic vegetable oils and margarines used in restaurants and in processed foods in North America are made from soy, corn, canola, or cottonseed. Unless these oils specifically say "Non-GMO" or "Organic," it is probably genetically modified. Best to stick with coconut oil, butter or good ol' fashioned lard!

Sugarbeets - May include any processed foods containing sugar.

Dairy Products - About 22 percent of cows in the U.S. are injected with recombinant (genetically modified) bovine growth hormone (rbGH).

Vitamins - Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is often made from corn, vitamin E is usually made from soy. Vitamins A, B2, B6, and B12 may be derived from GMOs as well as vitamin D and vitamin K may have "carriers" derived from GM corn sources, such as starch, glucose, and maltodextrin. Best form of C is FOOD source- Get yourself some rosehip seeds or aceroloa berry and make a NICE tincture- homemade! Very cheap and you know it's not GMO that way!

I hope I don't catch it in the rear end on this but I had to post this article in it's entirety!

I'm sure it's some sort of copyright no-no. Sharing the info with people that need to know these things makes it worth the risk. It is from the June issue of Whole Living and it's not available online.

There is alot of great info here- take your time and read it a page at a time.

Learn how chemicals, plastics and even sugar can disrupt hormonal balance- Our hormonal system is much more than just testosterone and estrogen.

Hormonal disruption can affect how we learn, our behavior, our brains, our reproductive function, metabolism and can even trigger diseases like diabetes.

Text by Hillari Dowdle and Illustration by Matt Mahurin

Update on 2013-01-29 by Desiree Winans

I have several friends who have come to me asking about their young children who are experiencing hormonal development EARLY.

Young girls getting their periods at 8 and 9 years old, developing pubic hair at a young age & even boys with abnormal breast tissue. Despite what a doctor may say, this is not normal and is a sign of an overload of estrogen mimicking substances in their little bodies. It can set them up for a lifetime of hormonal challenges- whether they be a boy or girl.

What can be done about this?

First of all- please reach out to me if you have questions for you or someone you love at desiree@modernhippie.org so I can help 1 on 1.

Here's a list of what you can do TODAY, to lower exposure to estrogen mimicking substances, clear the body of false estrogens & get those young bodies back on track!

Remove all dairy and cheese from the diet that is NOT organic. Preferably dairy should be organically raised & RAW if consumed daily.

Remove all Meats from the diet that are not organically FED for a time. Hormones used in NON-Organically raised livestock can contribute to endocrine disruption.

Additionally if the feed that animals receives is GMO, there can be endocrine disruption lurking in this meat also.

Remove all plastic eating utensils/drinking utensils from the home. Buy as much food in glass as possible.

Have a Naturopath muscle response test you for all of the Homeopathic Cell Salts by Hylands brand. These may help with the clearing of disruptive elements in the body.

Limit the use of electronics, these may be endocrine disruptive.

Limit refined white sugar within reason for a time. Sugar (believe it or not!) is an endocrine disruptor. Excessive amounts of white sugar can be harmful in this way.

Begin ingesting Black Cohosh Herb tincture to clear the false estrogen's from the liver. See a naturopath to determine the amount.

Begin ingesting a small amount of Indole 3 Carbinol. One must seek the assistance of a naturopath to determine the correct dose. If you take to much, as the estrogen leaves the skin, the person taking it may become very itchy as it's a part of the detox. Slower is best when children are involved.

The use of high quality essential oils like Young Living Brand may be helpful, they are very balancing, oxygenating to the cells and may expedite the process. Reach out to learn more.

Last year I wrote a 30 page term paper on the subject of fluoride toxicity. It's nice to see some of the documentation I sited seeing the light of day on the news. If you have small children consider what fluoride may be doing to their ability to learn, focus and develop properly.

To avoid fluoride purchase fluoride free toothpaste, decline fluoride treatments at the dentist and purchase reverse osmosis water or a water filtration system in the home that removes fluoride specifically. Those are the top 3 things you can do to ensure that they are not exposed constantly to this harmful neurotoxin.

Fluoride also disrupts the the health of the thyroid gland, has been shown by Harvard University to increase chances of osteocarcomas in young boys and destroys healthy bacteria in the intestinal tract.

Find out what illnesses can be provoked by exposure to pesticides, what vegetables contain the most pesticides, and stats on how many different pesticides are on the end product- OUR FOOD! It will surprise you!

My husband just informed me that it was earth day. I had no idea. I paused a moment and replied to him, "Everyday is Earth Day to me"

I did feel bad for a half a second, not knowing it was Earth Day. If I'm such a modern hippie, shouldn't I be counting the days?

But then I realized that I try to go above and beyond everyday to reduce my consumption of goods. I reuse everything I can (almost to a fault- ask my husband), from Kombucha bottles to plastic produce bags. We've gotten it down to a science recycling far more trash than we throw away putting 1 trash bag out every 2 weeks (thanks to compost).

We use absolutely no chemical products to clean, spray or scrub- it's either vinegar, baking soda or castille soap (or a combination of all three). All of our shampoos, soaps and detergentsare biodegradable- which is more important to me than ever as we MUST protect the fresh water supply. I think someday, it will be fought for- tooth and nail.